Category Archives: Court

Oregon standoff defendant Duane Ehmer gets into heated exchange with prosecutor

Note: Graphic language included in story.

***

Duane Ehmer, one of four remaining defendants set for trial this month in the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, got into a testy exchange with a federal prosecutor when he took the witness stand Monday during a pretrial hearing.

At one point, Ehmer blurted out: “That’s bullshit!” in response to a prosecutor’s remark and question. U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown interrupted to remind Ehmer that he was in a courtroom and to “please refrain from using coarse language.”

Continue reading

3 Oregon standoff defendants plead guilty to trespass, pay $1,000 restitution

Three of seven remaining Oregon standoff defendants each pleaded guilty Monday to a single misdemeanor trespass charge and were sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to pay $1,000 restitution to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Idaho couple Sean Anderson and Sandra Anderson and Dylan Anderson of Provo, Utah, each admitted they entered, occupied and used the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge without authorization.

Sean and Sandra Anderson were among the last four holdouts at the federal sanctuary last winter. Dylan Anderson isn’t related to them. He spent about three weeks at the refuge.

Continue reading

First trial in Bunkerville standoff case opens in Las Vegas

Constitutional issues took center stage Monday when the first trial in the case against rancher Cliven Bundy and his supporters opened with jury selection in Las Vegas.

U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro on Monday began the lengthy process of whittling down a jury pool of several hundred people to a panel of 14 — including two alternates — who will be seated for the trial against six people charged as “gunmen” in the 2014 armed standoff in Bunkerville. The standoff occurred when Bundy led a mass protest against federal agents who were acting on a court order to impound his cattle.

Continue reading

With a legal wing and a prayer, Ryan Bundy gambles freedom by representing himself in Bunkerville standoff case

Ryan Bundy started his detention hearing with a prayer last week in US Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr.’s courtroom.

Although you don’t often see it in any legal jurisdiction, it should have come as no surprise. As a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the eldest son of Bunkerville cattle rancher Cliven Bundy prays often. Friends and family members who assembled at U.S. District Court prayed on bended knee before packing the courtroom on Bundy’s behalf. The group included Bundy’s wife and eight children, who by themselves filled nearly half a row in the courtroom.

Continue reading

Attorneys Denied Access Before Trial

Prison refuses to grant group meeting…

Tier 3 defendants now reside at the Henderson Detention Center in Henderson, NV. Henderson is closer to the Courthouse which makes for a substantially reduced commute to and from trial. Henderson also has individual cells, (as opposed to Pahrump’s 50 bunk bed per pod layout); the men should get better sleep. There are issues though.

Continue reading

Review-Journal seeks access to jurors’ names in Bundy trial

Lawyers for the Las Vegas Review-Journal filed a motion Friday seeking access to jury information in the upcoming trial against associates of rancher Cliven Bundy.

The motion, filed in federal court in Las Vegas, asks a judge for access to jurors’ names. It also seeks access to copies of the questionnaires sent out to potential jurors.

Continue reading

Gary Hunt – Burns Chronicles No 57 Collusion or Conspiracy?

On October 17, 2016, shortly after the very just verdict of “Not Guilty” was announced in the Ammon Bundy, et al, Group 1 trial, a meeting was held in the Mark O. Hatfield Federal District Courthouse. The 12 jurors, Judge Anna Brown, and a court reporter, attended the meeting. It lasted about one and a half hours.

It is my understanding that such a meeting is not unusual. However, circumstances surrounding this particular meeting are, to say the least, quite unusual, considering context. That is exactly what we are going to do.

Continue reading

Four of remaining seven Oregon standoff defendants set to change pleas on Monday

Four of the seven remaining Oregon standoff defendants who were set to go to trial on Feb. 14 have decided to accept negotiated deals, and change their pleas during hearings in federal court on Monday.

Sean Anderson and his wife Sandra Anderson, who were among the last four holdouts at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, as well as Dylan Anderson and Darryl Thorn are expected to enter pleas to a single trespass charge, a misdemeanor, and have the remaining felony and misdemeanor charges dismissed.

Continue reading

Attorneys suggest BLM agent accused of misconduct could be central to Bundy case

Defense attorneys representing men charged as co-conspirators of rancher Cliven Bundy have raised concerns that a Bureau of Land Management supervisor recently acccused of ethics violations is the same person who oversaw agency officials during the armed standoff in Bunkerville in April 2014.

In a scathing report released this week, the Office of the Inspector General accuses an unnamed BLM supervisory agent of using his position to obtain sold-out Burning Man tickets in 2015. The report includes allegations that the agent intimidated employees who may have reported his wrongdoing, and it accuses him of threatening to ruin subordinates’ careers by saying things like, “If you’re not on my ship, you’re going to sink … so I suggest you get on my ship.”

Continue reading

Oregon occupation defendant asks court to remove judge from misdemeanor trial

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown shouldn’t preside over the trial of defendants facing misdemeanor charges in the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge because she met privately with jurors who acquitted Ammon Bundy after the first Oregon standoff trial last fall, one of the defendants argues in amotion filed late Wednesday.

“The Court not only answered questions the jurors had, but also discussed the merits of the case with specific reference to potential misdemeanor offenses that could have been used by the government, including trespass and the perceived inadequacy of a sentence to the government” if it had pursued such a charge, Duane Ehmer’s lawyer, Michele Kohler, wrote in a motion to recuse the judge.

Continue reading

Gary Hunt – The Bundy Affair #20 The Invisible Witness

I have been so busy writing about the goings on in Oregon that I haven’t had much opportunity to consider the situation in Nevada. As I have told those that I been working with regarding the Group 1 trial in Oregon, who have all started concentrating their efforts in Nevada. I told those who I had been working with in Oregon, “You all get to work down where it is warm and sunny, while I’m still stuck up here where there is snow on the ground, and it is cold.” Seriously, however, I am in Northern California, about halfway between the two. But, I was spending my time primarily on the Oregon, Ammon Bundy, et al, case.

Then, the government filed a Motion. Upon reading the Motion, I found that the US Attorney has decided to invite me down to Nevada, an offer I couldn’t refuse.

On January 27, 2017, the government filed “Government’s Motion for Protective Order Regarding Undercover Employee“. It is their effort to hide from the defense the identification of an Undercover Employee (UCE).

Continue reading

BLM Agent Daniel P. Love Under Fire By Bundy Case Attorney After Inspector General Probe Finds Him Guilty Of Misconduct

Las Vegas Nevada: On Wednesday Attorney Chris Rasmussen filed a Motion For Review of BLM Personnel Records after a scathing report released by the Office Of The Inspector General, said a Special Agent In Charge of the BLM was found to have committed Ethical Violations and Misconduct during an event in 2015 called “Burning Man” held in Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

The report contained points of interest for attorneys fighting an uphill battle in the Bundy Ranch case, especially the part about the Special Agent trying to intimidate and influence witnesses in his ethics investigation.

Continue reading

Gary Hunt – Freedom of the Press #5 – “Tilting at Windmills”

Well, it has been almost three weeks since the government’s most recent effort to suppress Freedom of the Press. Not really surprising, since they have nothing to go on; they just think that they do. However, Billy J. Williams (aka Don Quixote) and Pamala R. Holsinger (aka Sancho Panza) have spent a bunch of taxpayer’s money on “Tilting at Windmills”. They just do not seem to believe that the Constitution is the very document that created them, and the government that they represent. Well, it didn’t really create them, but it did create the positions that they hold.

Back on January 10, 2017, the government filed the “Government’s Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Motion to Enforce Protective Order (1689)“. This was discussed in Freedom of the Press #3 – “Contemptuous Postings”, published on January 11. That same day, just hours before #3 was published, the Court filed an “Order Granting in Part Government’s Motion to Enforce Protective Order (1691)“. This, of course, led to my response, on January 12, with Freedom of the Press #4 – The Order. Rather a hectic pace, for three days.

Continue reading

Ryan Bundy goes on the attack during hearing in Las Vegas

JENNY WILSON
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Ryan Bundy, accused of leading the 2014 standoff near his father’s ranch in Bunkerville, testified Tuesday that the charges detailed in the 16-count indictment against him describe the actions of federal agents who tried to impound his father’s cattle.

“The wrong people are in jail,” Bundy testified during an unusual, six-hour detention hearing at which the rancher’s son, who has been incarcerated for a year, argued for his release pending trial on extortion, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, and other charges resulting from the April 2014 confrontation.

Continue reading

Fed prosecutors want judge to order Gary Hunt to appear in court to show why he should not be held in contempt of court

Fed prosecutors want judge to order Gary Hunt to appear in court to show why he should not be held in contempt of court

Continue reading

FBI agent testifies about arrest of Oregon standoff defendant Darryl Thorn at Redmond Super 8 Motel

On Friday, FBI Special Agent Troy Nicoll testified about the arrest.

Nicoll was riding in an FBI surveillance van that pulled up to the front of the motel when the agents got word Thorn was in the lobby about 9:05 a.m. on Feb. 11, the day that the final four holdouts at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge surrendered to authorities after a 41-day occupation.

“Darryl?” Nicoll asked as he approached Thorn in the continental breakfast area. Five other agents entered the lobby as well.

Continue reading

Lawsuit accuses PACER of milking the public for cash in exchange for access

The federally run online court document access system known as PACER now finds itself listed on a federal docket. Its overseer, the US government, is a defendant in a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing the service of overcharging the public.

The suit, brought by three nonprofits on Thursday, claims millions of dollars generated from a recent 25-percent increase in page fees are being illegally spent by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AO). The cost for access is 10 cents per page and up to $3 a document. Judicial opinions are free. This isn’t likely to break the bank for some, but to others it adds up and can preclude access to public records. The National Consumer Law Center, the Alliance for Justice, and the National Veterans Legal Services Program also claim in the lawsuit that these fees are illegal because the government is charging more than necessary to keep the PACER system afloat (as is required by Congress).

Continue reading